Alps girl speaks to French police after waking from coma

THE seven-year-old girl shot and beaten in the Alps massacre has spoken to
French police after waking from a coma.

Zainab Al-Hilli was so badly injured in the attack which killed her mother,
father and grandmother she was placed in a medically induced coma.

But she is now awake and has talked to investigators from her hospital bed.

A source said: “They have been able to speak to her but this was just an
initial meeting. They could not go into any detail and the child was very
tired. It was not permitted for the discussion to go any further.”

Cops hope she may be able to remember key facts about the mysterious murders –
but must wait for medics permission before they are allowed to speak to her
again.

French prosecutor Eric Maillaud said: “Maybe she can give us information
on the number of people present, for example, or the colour of their skin,
and other elements of description that might allow us to consider a first
lead a bit more seriously.”

Police believe that there may have only been one gunman – as evidence points
to only a single weapon being used.

The extraordinary revelation reinforces the theory that a highly-trained
professional contract killer was behind the slaughter which killed four
people.

Detailed ballistic analysis of 25 spent cartridges found at the scene close to
Lake Annecy, in eastern France, has shown they all came from one 7.65mm
automatic pistol.

All were used to murder Saad Al-Hilli, 50, his wife Ikbal, 47, her mother
Suhaila Al-Allaf, 74, and Sylvain Mollier, a 45-year-old French cyclist.

The gun was used to place at least two bullets in every victim’s head, and
five in the cyclist’s body.

This means the weapon is likely to have required re-loading in an extremely
short period of time.

A French judicial source said: “Zeena has given us all the information
she is capable of providing, and there is no further benefit from keeping
her in France.

“She will be far better off back in her home country.”

Her old sister Zainab was shot in the shoulder and “savagely” beaten
about the head. Today she came out of an induced coma but remained heavily
sedated. She remained under armed guard in Grenoble University Hospital and
police are awaiting permission to question her.

Searches continue of the al-Hilli family home in Claygate, Surrey, as French
and British detectives hunt for clues that my explain why the engineer was
targeted in the professional-style assassination.

Zainab’s uncle and closest living relative, Zaid Al-Hilli, 53, will today be
questioned in London about an alleged feud between him and the girls’
murdered father over an inheritance rumoured to be worth anything up to
£1million.

Mr Maillaud said Zeena had identified her mother and father from photos, and
described what he called the “fury” and “terror” of the
attack to French police.

Mr Maillaud said Zeena would not be interviewed as an official witness in the
future, but Zainab will be.

The prosecutor said: “When she’s recovered, and medics give the green
light, she will be interviewed. Her injuries are still extremely serious. As
long as we can’t talk to her, we won’t talk to her.”

Two gendarmes – both women – were given responsibility for establishing a
dialogue with the two girls.

Both women are trained psychologists, specialising in working with children.
They are French women from Chambery, but have a translator with them at all
times.

The gendarmes have interviewed Zeena in a room furnished in bright colours and
small armchairs and tables, to make her feel as comfortable as possible.

They spoke to her in soft voices and did everything to “diffuse the
situation so as not to induce a second trauma”, said a police source.

He added: “The aim is to create a fluid dialogue – to get the child
talking on her own accord.”

Meanwhile, the family’s mock-Tudor mansion was the focus of a second day’s
search by scene-of-crimes officers, who erected a forensics tent outside and
were seen closely examining the inside of the property.

Nearby, youth footballers held a minute’s silence in memory of the victims
ahead of their matches at Claygate recreation ground this morning.